During an interview Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting in San Francisco, the 44-year-old CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX said that the U.S. could meet its electricity needs just by covering a small corner of Utah or Nevada with solar panels.

“Let’s say if the only thing we had was solar energy—if that was the only power source—if you just took a small section of Spain you could power all of Europe,” he said. “It’s a very small amount of area that’s actually needed to generate the electricity we need to power civilization. Or in the case of the U.S., like a little corner of Nevada or Utah would power the United States.”

While Musk’s statement might sound a little too good to be true, as Tech Insider reporter Rebecca Harrington noted, we already have the technology to do it. More power from the sun hits the Earth in a single hour than humanity uses in an entire year, yet solar only provided 0.39 percent of the energy used in the U.S. last year.

This is why Musk thinks that solar will become the biggest energy source by 2031, as he told Tim Urban from Wait But Why. If solar is 20 percent efficient at turning solar energy into power, as it has been in lab tests, we’d only need to cover a land area about the size of Spain to power the entire Earth renewably in 2030.

Indeed, photovoltaic technology is growing in leaps and bounds. In October, renowned solar installer SolarCity (where Musk sits as chairman) unveiled a solar panel that can achieve a peak efficiency of 22.04 percent, and that’s just for residential rooftops. On an industrial scale, theworld’s most efficient solar cell has about double the efficiency of SolarCity’s new panels at 44.7 percent.

The Land Art Generator Initiative also crunched the numbers and determined that the surface area required to power the whole world with solar would fit into 191,817 square miles of solar panels, or roughly the area of Spain.

Complain no gain that where lefties loose over all. If economic jus pay 15-20 and all the over/time unlimited—- soon solar stock will look like oil is now.ya do know that invest is up to those that take the market… JP Morgan types unwelcome historically….

There’s another solar technology where another genius took some ideas of Einstein where they take sand and heat and compress it into a plasma. All the impurities drop out and they are left with pure thin skin Si (Silica) The Si generates at least 100x more energy than the current Solar Panels at a tiny fraction of the cost. So, that’s coming up soon. Almost free energy.

51% of green gases emissions are from animal agriculture and local or not it’s a huge waste of ressources. Can’t feed the world with the way we eat but of course you don’t care. Inform yourself before making insensitive comments: http://www.cowspiracy.com

True, altough it was meat AND cooked food, not ‘cooked meat’ per se 😉 needed for the energy consumption of a big brain. And now we can use that big capable brain to conclude that continuing eating meat on a daily basis in a world with 7 billion (2040 maybe 11 billion) is not the way to survive. Deforestation for soja animal feed, methane farting and animal cruelty: we dan do better than that! And there’s enough alternatives now to feed our big brains…

The Oil Barons are on their way out whether they like it or not, and these last few wars in the middle east are their part of the last hurrah before going the way of the dinosaurs if they do not see this fact and change their business models to a greener perspective overall . The public is going to have a” Marie Antoinette “style reckoning when Millennials are not going to vote in favor of them and that is going to cause a schism of power…. an all inclusive and accepting world has no place for fascism whatsoever. If elitist fsacist think they can keep it up they got another thing coming, I say

Oil Barons and Oligarchs, Big Business, and Multinational conglomerates have already set up American peons for the biggest screwing ever: Solar Cell Tariff Did you know that American citizens pay huge “tariffs” on Chinese solar panels (200+%) because: American industrialists found it cheaper to bribe (lobbyists) government officials to impose “so-called’ dumping tariffs than to do as the Chinese have done: Invest heavily in totally automating their factories, streamlining their production systems, spending on research for faster, cheaper, better, SMARTer ways to compete on world markets, spend money on scientists to make more efficient product. By this action, U.S. manufacturers have ‘opted Out” of the huge world wide market for these items? This is not good for the working stiffs, the voters in America at all, after all they used to be “Manufacturers to the World”

Sorry….but offshoring manufacturing and jobs is not streamlining anything. They don’t pay their workers or treat them humanely either. WE made China what it is today. This globalization bullshit was created by corporate America…..

Snipes… They are already ahead of us in investment in solar! They realized long ago that oil for fuel was going away, but oil for other products (plastics, lubricants, medicines, etc.) will be around for the next 100 years. They have been investing in ‘commercial’ wind and solar projects and trying to tie up your and my ability to sell our excess production from our home electric output to the power companies. Wake up friend! You are thirty years behind.

Would be nice to have cheap electricity. I live in northern Ontario Canada and just got my $900 hydro bill for the month of November! That’s more than my mortgage payment. All I could do is cry. :(. Merry Christmas Hydro One! Least someone gonna be merry.

I agree with David Hartmann. Now that Tesla is building massive battery factories in both North America and Europe, the missing link, STORAGE of electricity is coming very soon, through SolarCity, with lease agreements available for both panels, as well as the battery packs (powerwall). We should be free from the grid. We should also be catching our own water off the roof and storing in tanks, tie into solar power and filter, pump and use our own water. I’m doing this in Calif.

Like his idea to nuke Mars to make it warmer? Just like that idea, there’s a better way to go about this – utilizing the endless source of rooftops and parking lot spaces, instead of the crackpot idea of tampering with one of most beautiful states in the country.

Agreed. Still has to be better than the current way that most countries are doing it by ravaging the planet for all the natural non replaceable fuels that is happening now. We need to explore all areas if renewable energy before it’s too late. Nuking Mars is a bit stupid though !

Why the hell do we want to cover up the most beautiful state in the country, when there are miles and miles of roof tops, and miles and miles of parking lots just waiting to be covered by solar producing cells? I hate this idea just as much as his suggestion to ‘nuke Mars to make it warmer’. Stick lowering the coast of your electric cars.

Scott Anderson Oh, my mind is OPEN – why do we need to cover over our land, causing more environmental issues, when, as i said above, we have thousands upon thousands of square acres of rooftops, and parking spaces waiting to be covered over for LOCAL energy production (instead of using long power lines, which will lose a great of energy on the way). What about your mind – is it open enough to see this reality?

Arguements that can be made in favor of putting large clusters in the desert:

Maintenance: the cost of maintenance would surely be lower if they are in one central area

Climate: covering the roofs of america in solar panels also means covering the solar panels in rain ice sleet snow… Portions of the country get poor light for solar use. Northern states get harsh winter weather. Tornados hurricanes.. None of that happens much in the desert. Also think of corrosion in the desert vs the top of a new england roof.

Also: as the article states, there are innefficient residential panels, and highly efficient commercial panels. The high efficiency versions are most likely the ones he was referencing and most likely wont go on all roof tops.

And lastly, solar isnt even green in the first place. Roof tops vs in the desert is a retarded arguement because the environmental damage associated eith solar panel production and moning the necessary materials make it all pretty much as innefficient, dirty, and unethical as burning oil and coal in the first place.

He wasn’t suggesting we actually do it. As with the Spain comparison, he only mentions it to give a sense of scale. He seems like an intelligent guy so I’m sure he would agree that there are better places to put panels rather than cover up natural areas, like rooftops.

Roy Meurin It doesn’t really matter, what state is, or where it is, as far as I’m concerned. My main argument is that Elon Musk is suggesting the wrong idea for now. Our priority should be rooftops, and parking lots. Once again, as I have mentioned a number of times above, we have a seemingly endless amount of space for these devices, which are not being utilized, which would bring locally produced power, instead of having the source come from some remote spot, thus using an inefficient transfer method, and creating further environmental havoc, as we are currently seeing in California’s Mojave.

Do you often hear a whooshing sound? That’s the sound of analogies and the point of statements whooshing over your head. Perhaps you are really a masterful troll, if so, congrats. If not, for the last time, that statement was to give the sense of scale of how much area needs to be covered. Elon’s other company, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SolarCity has for years BEEN DOING EXACTLY what you are saying he should do.

Oh no that would not work, for all the corrupt energy providers who monopolize and manipulate the energy sector. lol. Elon is a genius threat, I hope his vision is accepted and brought forward throughout the world.

I figure that we should protect him now if he doesn’t have any security. “They”, the established energy interests will sooner or later try to knock him off. Yeah, I’m paranoid, but given the history of big business……:P

Great idea but a national grid is not a good idea. Too vulnerable. We need small grids (maybe neighborhood size) that can use a variety of available energies (waves, currents, solar, wind, geothermal). Connecting them one to another is a possibility but they should be able to work independently. I’m grateful for Musk’s work and hope to someday be able to afford one of Tesla’s batteries!

Please do.. just that, Mr.Billionair sir. I’m tired of hearing how the change is up to me. I’m officially tasking you to get this done Mr.Musk. Pull some damn strings. OH and look he only mentioned America. That’s not good enough. See how the miliatry spreads across the planet? We need to do that with privilege, power, medicine and food.

The ‘big’ one in energy is thermal,not electrical!So don’t fool anyone with some dreams…spill out the whole energyrequirement for a continued relatively comfortable livestandard,and where its gonna come from?

africa have most of world deserts…deserts are full of sun and nothing cant be build on them except solar power facility’s .if any 1 build only 1 solar power plant,big enough ,he can suply world with clean eletric power and in same time he dont waste or destroy any thing.and if they menage to produce so much power,they can transport that energy on any part of world they want….but they dont….they need faosile fuel profit …no profit in cheap energy ,especially if that energy is produced on 2 continent,where they dont have full economical and political control

Because solar panels A) have a limited lifetime and B) require rare earths which are in deposits that are C) completely controlled by the Chinese military. The Chinese have already used this control to force Japan to cede territory. If we went down this path in 20 years we would be begging China for the chance to power our own country, at prices that are grotesque. Windmills require rare earths too.

Folks, our military has had FREE energy technology for 60 years but they’re not going to tell us about it. It would bring down the entire energy cartel. Yes, it’s true. Check out Steven Greer with The Disclosure Project.

He Is one of Many Visionary making sense and proof of Free – Renewable Energy. Having the company name TESLA says it all. Even the Rockefeller Family know of this. That is WHY they have turned there investments AWAY from Fossil fuels to Renewable Energy. In other words Goodbye Petrol Dollar. Fact . Watch this space – its happening already folks. And you All Can thank Mr N TESLA. (one of the worlds Genius who was kept in cotton wool in the Basement for sometime in New York – 1800s to complete and research Top Secret information , unfortunately sponsored by a Corupt Banker JP Morgan. Now TESLAs information is also being built in Russia. A Tower that provides and potentially gives out Free Energy to an entire Nation.

Its time now to use the Tesla research for the entire world and with this comes a Sense of freedom, conscious freedom… that has been kept only for the elite. Not anymore. – Support this Man he is passing it on. If you have no idea about Renewable Energy vs Fossil fuels the primary is Gospel. Still unsure Do your own Research on “Nikola Tesla”

Its a No Brainer. Why listen to Corupt Governments telling you to pay for your enegy when there is an option of having it for FREE.

Leave southern Utah alone. It is a desert paradise and a unique natural location. Rather, cover Salt Lake City, and more preferably, Provo Utah. Covering over the mecca of the LDS would be saving the planet from a human culture gone wrong.

They have already covered Texas and New Mexico in them but will not turn them on. He wants fucking grant money to build more. That’s great….BUT turn the ones they built five years ago that sit dormant on first. Their excuse is the grid wont handle the amount these put out so they sit doing nothing because they refuse to upgrade the grid. Notice also the grid works fine with electricity made by other sources besides wind. Maybe wind needs to hire some representatives and send them to Washington to make some deals.

That would be a super clean alternative source and would effectively put traditional energy producers out of business. How about EVERY citizen OWNING a piece of this humongous business endeavor through the vehicle of a Citizens Land Bank, a for-profit, professionally-managed, citizen-owned-and-governed community land planning and development enterprise, designed to enable every citizen of a community of any size to acquire a direct ownership stake in local land, natural resources and basic infrastructure. See http://www.cesj.org/resources/articles-index/citizens-land-bank-what-it-is-and-is-not/

It would be SOOOOO NICE, if I could come to a website without having to fight off offending javascript popups obscuring the page. It’s rude.

There’s more than enough room at the side column to put the facebook page, or subscribe, or whatever instead of having readers to fight off these things. Please keep in mind that SmartPhone users can’t always X out of these aggravating javascripts.

We have solar panels here in rainy old England, and will soon have paid back the installation costs. . Our government pays a subsidy for part of the electricity we generate and send to the natiional grid. This has encouraged others tio invest in solar panels. I can’t say that it is a thrilling sucess – our hours of direct sunlight are limited – but, on a little by little basis, we are helping to reduce our carbon dependency. As batteries improve as quickly as they now are doing, we might well and soonish see some of the electricity we are generating stored in batteries in our cellar. Meanwhile, even in England, we can switch off our hot-water heater at the end of May and do not have to switch it on again until the end of September. Yes, even in England,we do take showers. We increased the size and insulation of our hot-water storage cistern. Suggestion: do some research. We consulted a number of energy efficiency studies before investing. Even a only couple of hours with Google would be a start.

He needs to do what Ford General Motors and Firestone and Texaco and Standard Oil and all did in the 30s, 40s, and 50s and buy up the old technology (at that time electric street cars) and put a new vision and multi-generational legacy into place. He has the money and technology to make this a better planet but he instead he wants to go to Mars. Go figure.

I love the idea but don’t understand how it works at night unless there are zillions of small tesla batteries all over the world. How will it work? I’m not against it, just don’t understand this point.

For the entire country to rely on power from a single source would be crazy. I think the point is that solar could easily power the country. Small solar fields all over the country would be great as long as a backup power source exists for each

He’s talking about the total land space required, not that all of it has to be concentrated in a single zone. Electric power has to be local, as there would be too much loss the further away from the source you get. The best choice would be to distribute the solar power on rooftops. http://phys.org/news/2015-09-price-solar-energy-states-fallen.html

You have to remember that “Ole Sol” has been powering the Earth for a billion years and we the inhabitants have slowly adapted our selves to take advantage of this free fuel source although when someone comes up with a method there is sure to be some entity that will try to squash it. Mr. Musk has a great idea but companies are going to fight him,ie, no oil burned there goes big oils profits. Musk came back with one of those old eliminated technologies with his electric car, the biggest hurdle with solar is a way to store it when the sun sets we may need a back up source.

then the only problem remains getting the electricity to every home, factory and commercial building in America…but wait 120 million homes have carbon based heating systems. The cost and time to replace those 120 million systems plus virtually every non-residential building in America is the real problem. It will take many many decades and tens of trillions of dollars.

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